Toronto students banned from using cellphones in schools

Cellphones have been silenced at hundreds of Toronto public schools following a decision by board trustees to ban use of the devices in classrooms and hallways.

On Wednesday evening, Toronto District School Board trustees voted overwhelmingly in favour of a motion to force students to turn off their cellphones and other personal electronic devices such as BlackBerrys.

Information on the ban was being sent out Thursday to the board's 560 schools to explain the new policy, which replaces the old one that allowed individual schools to govern use of cellphones.